Ramon Ramirez: Freshman Year

Welcome back for another year at the Pinenut Plaza Dorm here at Sim State Uni. We are here to accompany...

        ...Ramon Ramirez through his first two semesters.Gone is the shaggy haircut of his teenage years; he age-transitioned into this one but kept his beard and his sideburns.

       Who else is here? Nigel Newson, who is currently the only Sophomore at the dorm...

        ...Prezioso Picaso, Charlie Cho and Martina Martin...

        ...Prezioso's twin brother Pablo Picaso...

       ...and Hailey Hart, who can't seem to get enough of the dorm cook's great food :-)
Charlie is the only Senior Student here right now. The other four - Hailey, Martina, Prezioso and Pablo - are Juniors.

        The synthesizer in Charlie's bedroom is still one of the most popular objects in the house.

       Ramon gets rid of his sideburns - they don't join properly with his haircut - and starts wearing a watch and an earring.

        Prezioso opts for a can of juice when he is very hungry one morning, in spite of there being several plates of pancakes ready on the cafeteria counter.

        Every now and then, someone even remembers to take out the trash.
(I've explained my way of playing uni before, so simply skip this if you already know: I control my students only until they have gained the necessary skills and written their term papers for the current semester. After that, they are pretty much left to their own devices, except for me making sure they pay the bills and ring their friends and family back home occasionally.)

       The dart board is another very popular object here.

        Ramon decides on the Economics Major a few days after his arrival. (If my Sims roll the wish for a specific major, that's the one they'll take. If no such wish comes up, eventually they'll be automatically assigned the Philosophy Major by the game.)

        Umm... Hailey, if I were you, I'd not stand there and wait for that dart to hit me between the eyes!

       Hailey's LTW is to have 20 simultaneous lovers - so far, she has only one, Pablo. But here, it looks like she is not averse to a second man joining her in the bedroom! (Of course this is not what happened - you know this is not possible in the game, at least not without a hack. But my Sims sometimes have a strange way of choosing where to sleep.)

        Hailey surrounded by a bunch of young men - that is how she likes life! (Again, nothing "happened" here. They just all seemed to want to be playing with the synthesizer at the same time.)

        Charlie returns from his winter exam. For him, the final semester has just begun.

        The others - except for Ramon - follow a few hours later. Now it is time for me to check on everybody: what skills they need, and making sure their needs are taken care of until each has written his or her term paper.

        For some, a body skill point is required. Have you ever watched your Sim working out in front of the telly? Most of the time, what your Sim does has nothing to do with the exercises shown on TV.

        The coach appears. i wonder whom she will target. Ramon is the only unfit Sim here.

      But she does not even look at Ramon. Instead, she makes a beeline for Pablo. "You sure, Mrs. Coach? I am in the middle of gaining the skill I need for my next exam," he tells her.

       Ramon finishes his first semester the following day. He does not feel too well.

        Someone must have been interrupted while they were emptying the trash compactor. This pile of rubbish has been on the floor for one or two days already, with nobody thinking of picking it up. Hardly surprising, soon we have a bug infestation in the cafeteria.

        They all hate the bugs, but does anyone think of getting rid of the rubbish? No!

        I can't remember ever having seen the dorm cook sit down for a meal, have you?       

After the dorm cook has left and the lights are out, only Nigel is still there. He fell asleep over his meal, and all his needs are very low.

       Meanwhile, Prezioso shares Hailey's bed. Wait a minute, hasn't she something going with his twin brother? She has, and Prezioso and Hailey sleep in the same bed like "friends only" - they don't even have pink hearts for each other.

        A few days later, I've had enough of watching my Sims trying to stamp the bugs in the cafeteria. One of them is given the task to ring the Exterminator.

        After the bugs are dealt with, Pablo on his own initiative gets the dustpan out to get rid of them for good. But he doesn't touch the pile of rubbish. Soon, the bugs will be back!

       But - wait, what's this?! I can't believe Prezioso has FINALLY woken up to the fact that piles or rubbish mean bugs! Took him long enough to work that one out...!

        Nigel is still asleep. Not even the antics of a streaker wake him up.

        Prezioso and Martina are still an item, and now that it is spring, for the first time this "year" they start romantic interactions with each other. Martina seems to know that Prezioso only "happened to be" in Hailey's bed the other night - or maybe she does not know at all.

       Oh look, a fire! But don't worry, it is still raining, and the fire is quickly put out with no Sim coming to any harm.

        Charlie has just graduated Summa Cum Laude in Philosophy... and in his ballet outfit :-)

        His parents, Etsu (formerly Cho) and Hal (formerly Capp) Riley, come to his graduation party as well as friends Tina Traveller and Deirdre Dreamer.

        Meike and Sally Riley are there, too.

        All of a sudden, Nigel wakes up. He has been asleep over his dinner bowl for DAYS, with all his needs in the bright red.

        The party is in full swing with a lot of wild dancing :-)

        Afterwards, Charlie gets into the taxi back to New Maximiliania. Next time we'll see him, he will start working on his LTW of becoming City Planner. Interestingly, the first wish he rolled after graduation was to marry a rich Sim.

       Ramon has finished his Freshman Year with an A+.
By the way, both Nigel Newson and Pablo Picaso are now on Academic Probtation - something that happens very, very rarely in my game! They both slept through what should have been their end-of-year exams, so now they need to repeat one semester each.

When I started this "year", I expected a rather boring time. But it wasn't boring, what with two students suddenly finding themselves on academic probation and other unusual events. By the way, this is now at least one of the first times (if not THE first time) I have a household of students who were all born in-game. All of the original Maxis-made students have long left university, and even those Sims who were toddlers, children and teens when Maxis created them, have moved on. Well, it's been nearly six years since I have started New Maximiliania!

There are six students left at the dorm now. Who will fill the two empty slots?